if there is even one like it can be saved we have an obligation to try. >> president barack obama unveils a bold plan to control guns in the u.s. in the face of fierce optimism. -- opposition. this is al jazeera, live from our headquarters in doha. coming up -- another blow for boeing. the u.s. grounds its fleet of 787 dreamliners for safety checks. dozens of foreign workers are taken office at one algeria's biggest gas facilities.

more french troops arrive in neighboring mali to launch a offensive against rebel fighters. president barack obama has unveiled the most sweeping gun proposal -- gun control proposal in the u.s. for two decades. it follows the death of 20 children at last month in one of the worst mass shootings in american history. they are urging congress to reinstate a expired ban on assault weapons, limit ammunition background -- magazines to 10 bullets, mandate background checks for all gun sales, and impose harsher penalties for traffickers and unauthorized deals. the plan faces fierce opposition from america's powerful gun lobby. >> president barack obama brought out children from families of victims to make the

case that gun laws need to be changed. she spoke about her daughter killed in a colorado movie theater. >> six weeks before she died she was in the mall shooting in toronto. i told her at that time that she would never again see such a horrendous occurrence. six weeks later, she lay dead. you must take action. if you think this cannot happen to you and you will never be touched by gun violence, you are fooling yourself. >> the president is hoping americans will take that fear to heart and call their elected leaders. he wants congress to agree to ban the future production of some assault weapons and ammunition clips holding more than 10 bullets. >> weapons designed for the theater of war have no place in movie theaters. >> he wants to make sure everybody who wants to buy a gun, even from gun shows, has to pass a more comprehensive background check, and a band to armor piercing bullets.

by executive order, he told federal law enforcement to begin studying the causes of gun violence. but even the man who came up with dozens of proposals is not promising a end to mass shootings. >> no one can know for certain if this senseless act could have been prevented. but we all know we have a moral obligation to everything in our power to diminish the prospect. >> information on the proposal so far does nothing about the estimated 300 million guns already in america. the president stressed that this is going to be a tough fight. that was clear after the national rifle association released this television ad. >> his kids are protected by armed guards at their schools. >> the white house spokesman called that at repugnant. it makes a clear the nra will not fight back in a fight for congress that it has already said it will win. >> from the second amendment

foundation -- he supports america's right to bear arms. he joins us now live from las vegas. thank you for joining us. let's look at some of the proposals president barack obama has put through -- he wants everybody buying a gun to pass a more comprehensive background check. surely with background checks, that will limit guns falling into the wrong hands? >> i have no problem with background checks. the problem is the devil is in the details. barack obama and members of this party have ordered the proposals in the past -- they create a national registration system that is prohibited by law, and would put a gun shows out of business because it would hold people criminally liable for acts committed by people at the show. no one and their right mind would hold a gun show. >> so this is about money to you? >> it is not about money.

it is about freedom and the right to buy a gun for self protection, even if you are buying it at a gun show. >> what do you make of what obama said in the proposal -- we were talking about background checks, but he also says he wants to introduce a ban on military-style assault weapons. >> i find that in some ways a little hypocritical, considering president obama had a program called fast and furious that walked across the border thousands of so-called assault rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, and an unbelievable amount of high-capacity magazines that have been used by violent criminals of drug cartels. >> why then do americans in the united states need these weapons? >> they have also killed hundreds of civilians, including women and children. why doesn't he try to find those guns and get them back -- it is his administration who put them out on the street.

>> why is it that americans currently -- around 300 million guns in private hands in the united states. why then do americans need some any guns? >> we have a lot people. a lot of people like to have guns for different purposes. a hand gun for self-defense, a rifle for target shooting, a shotgun for skeet shooting. we fought a roll up -- war against britain when they tried to take our firearms against -- from us. we have a long tradition of firearms freedom and individual rights protected by a constitution that many other countries do not have. look finally at whether this bill will pass through congress, in your opinion. >> i do not think the bill to ban any kind of semi-automatic rifle pass at all. these guns malic military in style, but they do not fire the way the military ones do.

the only fire one bullet purple of the trigger -- they are not fully automatic, but barack obama is trying to make the american people think they are. quite frankly, we are appalled by that misrepresentation. >> how will you be fighting this moving forward? >> on a grass-roots effort. in the united states over 80 million people own firearms. this 80 million people are up in arms about the rights being taken away. they have been writing their congressmen already. >> we will leave it there. thank you. talking to us from las vegas. >> thank you. >> the united states federal aviation administration is grounding the ball and dreamliner into problems with the lithium batteries are addressed. two of japan's airlines grounded all their streamliners after they had to make an emergency

landing with in western japan. in the top -- past few weeks, several of the planes had reported mechanical and electrical failures. joining us live now from washington -- what more do we know on this decision to ground the boeing 787 dreamliner in the united states? >> we have been in touch with the federal aviation administration here. they say what they have done is issued a directive that takes away the operating license of the 787 dreamliner in the united states. that comes after a fire today on board a japanese aircraft operating in the sky and other incidents involving the plane in japan and in the united states. there were two incidents when fire broke out in boston on the aircraft. what happened in japan is the entire fleet of 24 aircraft operated by ana and japan air lines have been grounded.

the federal aviation administration will be looking at these lithium batteries, whether or not fire can spread from these batteries into the aircraft's state of the art operating system. there are other problems with the aircraft -- we have seen fuel leaks and cracked windscreen. there are eight airlines in the world that operate the 787. there air india, ethiopia airlines, lan, the chilean airlines, a lot out of poland, qatar airways, and united in the u.s.. it is united costly being addressed -- affected by this. freundel an's perspective, there are 800 aircraft on order of this -- from a bowling's perspective, there are 800 aircraft on order. we saw this reflected in the share price, down almost 4% today. >> wheat to the faa has said it will work with boeing to develop a corrective action plan to

resume operations as quickly and safely as possible. safety really been the key word here. >> the key word as always -- they do not want these planes to be falling out of the sky or how fires on the runway. the federal administration is pledging to work with boeing and in the united states with united airways, the the operator of the planes at the moment, to work at what is going on, in particular with these lithium batteries to see whether there is a flaw or a serious fire risk spreading through the rest of the aircraft. what is not clear is what happens to the 787's operated by all the airline that does listed that are operating outside of the united states. the faa has no authority over them, but what normally happens is because most of the airlines if not all of them fly into u.s. air space at one point or another, the airlines usually acquiesce and do not fly the

planes while the temporary ban is going on here in the u.s. aerospace. it is potentially a very serious problem for boeing of seattle and chicago. >> thank you very much. is trying toitary secure the release of dozens of foreign workers kidnapped and gas facility in the east. people have been killed after citizens from norway, the u.k., united states, and japan were taken. the group that carried out the attack claims it is a revenge for french intervention in neighboring mali. >> this is the oil installation -- it looks and feels like a full-blown hostage crisis. on the algeria libyan border, it was breached by a group of 20 gunmen who attacked a convoy of ford workers on rich to the airport. the algerian government has said it would not negotiate with them. >> according to the information, there are 20 terrorists in the

base. we believe they take their orders -- i do not believe they came from mali or libya. this is a revenge attack aimed at foreign countries participating in the operation in mali. >> look no further than the attack on rebels in mali. algeria had given permission for such warplanes to fly over its airspace. the leader of the group that attacked the installation made it clear that this was revenge. >> this is a crisis affecting nationals not just from france, but several other countries. >> the best information we have at this time is that u.s. citizens are among the hostages. i hope you will understand that in order to protect their safety i am not going to get into numbers, i am not going to get into names, i am not going to get into any further details. >> at this point we do not wish to speculate who is behind this or what may be their motive.

tonight the task is to get our countrymen home safe. >> which are in close touch with the algerian government. the judge syrian government has -- military has applied to the area and the prime minister has spoken to the prime minister of algeria. we are working closely with the algerian government at all levels. >> the question now is difficult to answer -- if there is no negotiation to be had with hostage-takers, then what else? certainly a rescue mission seems virtually inconceivable. this could last for days and days and could easily end very badly. al jazeera. >> chad is to 10 -- sent 2000 soldiers to mali to fight rebels. they send ground troops to confront the rebels. armored vehicles have arrived 400 kilometers north of the capital. when the campaign is over is expected the french will target further eastern rebels.

>> france gears up for a long military campaign -- mali's president has been visiting the men and women fighting his country lost battles. at the aircraft, -- airport, he met some of the hundreds of soldiers france has sent to mali to fight the rebels. >> this conflict is not only about mali. this is an aggression against the entire humanity, an assault on liberty. >> france says it has intervened in mali at the request of the president. >> this decision that i took last friday was necessary. if this choice had not been made, the question would not be when -- it would have been too late. mali would have been entirely concord by terrorists and would be in a dominating position.

>> but the french have yet to gain the upper hand. five days of effort have done little to rebut the gains made by rebels in the north. they are insisting they will only provide air and logistical support to an african-led initiative. malian and french forces have engaged rebel forces 400 kilometers from the capitol, and military chiefs from the west african bloc concluded a meeting with a promise to speed up deployment of 3300 african troops. sources at the meeting say niger and nigeria are ready to sending their troops now, while other countries will send theirs in next week. in bamako, we met the young men who say they are willing to join the fight to free northern mali. members of the malian youth

league -- they are eager for a fight. >> we rode to the ministry of defence asking for guns and to be taken to the front lines. we have been taken after training -- we are ready to defend our people. >> but with the impending deployment of west african troops and international support, it is unlikely

>> the top stories on algeciras this hour. president barack obama has announced his gun control measures -- his proposals include a ban on assault rifles and a limit to high-capacity magazines. he is likely to face strong opposition from congress. federal officials are grounding until's dreamliner addresses -- problems with the lithium batteries are addressed. this comes after a japanese plane had to make an emergency landing. dozens of foreign workers are being held hostage at a gas

facility in eastern algeria. two people root killed in the attack -- they say it is revenge for french intervention in neighboring mali. heavy fighting between the free syria army and government forces near a suburb of the capitol, according to opposition groups. there are reports of a big explosion in the same district to the northwest of damascus. >> activists say the syrian army has fired missiles toward targets in the north of the country. well this opposition video shows one of numerous air strikes, witnesses report from just outside of damascus. a helicopter crash in london has killed two people and injured nine others. the helicopter was on a commercial flight from just south of the capital. it was on its way to north london, but was diverted because of poor weather.

the helicopter never made it. it hit a crane on top of a 50- story residential building. it then crashed close to the station and the u.k.'s international intelligence agency. >> panic on a busy london street. this is the scene moments after a helicopter crashed into a construction crane, showering burning shrapnel onto the street below. >> it came down -- i was starting to feel a close to me. >> i see the helicopter come over -- the helicopter comes crashing down. everyone panicking. >> the cnet hit -- we just ran. >> it was a foggy morning and it was being diverted when it collided with a plane attack -- crane attached to a apartment building.

>> there have been two fatalities. one person is critically hurt. others are less seriously injured. >> one of the two dead was this highly skilled helicopter pilot. the other was a person on the ground. over 95 firefighters rushed to the scene and were able to bring the flames to control in 20 minutes. a dozen people were treated for injuries. you can see the crane hanging precariously off the side of the building. and emergency services are working on securing that and clearing the debris around the crash site, including two burnt cars which were hit with flaming wreckage. the accident so close to such a densely populated area is raising questions at the highest level. >> the points she makes about the rules for helicopter flight and other flights over our capital city -- i am sure they will be looked at as part of the investigations that will take place. >> the banks of the river are becoming more congested -- six

skyscrapers are planned for construction in this area alone. one of the many factors considered by investigators were trying to determine what caused the tragedy. al jazeera, london. >> thousands of turkish kurds gathered with in istanbul to greet the coffins of three activists killed in paris last week. they were found shot dead in their office. the turkish prime minister has appealed for calm ahead of the funeral. for decades the party has fought the turkish government for independence of the country's kurdish southwest. germany is still expected to grow this year, but only by 0.4%. that is leading to the central bank to bring back gold reserves stored in new york and paris since the cold war. >> germany has cut its forecast from october by more than half. anti-government's line is the

worst will soon be over. -- if the government's line is the worst will soon be over. >> the forces for growth are intact. the labor market is robust. incomes are rising. price increases will stay moderate. germany is doing well. >> growth averaged 0.7% last year. the government says it will drop to 0.4% this year. that will be part of an upward swing as growth is forecast to go back up to 1.6% the following year. >> the return of growth could be good news for some of germany's neighbors, like france and the netherlands, who will be able to export more to the country, but it could be bad news for nations such as greece and spain gilead if the european central bank fears more german growth will lead to higher inflation, it could raise interest rates. >> higher interest rates imply falling prices in countries --

it would be more expensive for them to refinance their debt and would be more difficult for firms to refinance their credit. this could be a problem. the strong economic situation in germany could be a problem for the economic situation of crisis countries. >> the new numbers, as germany's central bank says it will bring home more than 1,700 tons of gold from the united states and france. around half of its reserves. they have been stored abroad since the cold war because of fears that the then-soviet union might invade. some have speculated germany could spend the gold to kickstart the european economy, but the government has strongly ruled out that idea. al jazeera, berlin. >> thailand's navy has increased patrols to try to stem the flow of refugees from myanmar. more of them are entering thailand legally to try to escape harsh conditions and ethnic violence.

this report from southern thailand. >> tired and confused, they arrived on foreign soil. 88 refugees spending more than 10 days at sea after leaving western myanmar. they said they had no choice but to leave. >> the soldiers would take women and daughters and rape them and then turned them back the next day. we had no freedom. we could not go anywhere. we had to make our own future. >> myanmar is predominantly buddhist, and the muslim minority are largely seen as illegal immigrants from neighboring bangladesh. after fighting between bouterse and muslims last year, more than 100,000 left homeless. this was all happening at a sensitive time for thailand. it has been ranked as a tier 2 nation on the watch list for human trafficking. if it is ranked again this year, it will drop to tier 3, meaning

it will be ranked alongside north korea as one of the worst nations in the world for human trafficking. at the moment, the recent arrivals are under the control the police. but a corrupt system could easily see them fall into the hands of job brokers to sell them to thai cos. there then forced to work off large fees and bribes paid along the way. the thai government says the recent arrivals will not be deported or sent to a third country for now. in the meantime, the navy has been ordered to increase patrols, looking for more boats arriving from myanmar. >> i do not know what the future is. the military has their own policy on how to be with them. but first we will process. >> which will be another dead end -- that status, with no passport or national identification. they're not wanted in myanmar

and not wanted in thailand. for now, a police station in a foreign land is the best they can hope for. al jazeera, thailand. >> people who take a driving test in south korea are in for a bit of a surprise. traffic officials are making the experience high-tech, saying they have come up with a better way to grade students. >> it can be a nerve wracking experience, sitting for a driving test. more so when you have to memorize the route or rely on your driving examiner to tell you where to go. that is a thing of the past year. the red traffic authority has equipped cars with computer tablets, loaded with the gps program that tells drivers exactly where to go. there are also seven sensors with indycar that pick up information and use wireless technology to send it to the tablet. here is an example of how it

works -- they will pick up on whether or not the hand brake has been fully released. a car can still move even with its hand brakes lightly up. that could lead them to dispute the final test score. using a tablet eliminates that. the device can sense whether a door has been properly shut or the right gear is being used. it is being called a more objective way of greeting somebody's driving ability. >> the newly instituted electronic trading system means we can retest more accurately. that makes them more fair. the candidates now they can trust the result. >> since the system was introduced in december, the traffic authority says they have not received any complaints and student drivers. last year it had 70. a driving examiner is still required because he has to gauge other things that a tablet cannot -- whether a driver changes lanes correctly. >> in the past, examiners had to grade 87 categories and fill in

the score sheet. now 25 categories are scored automatically and some automatically. that means they can concentrate on more important things -- preventing a traffic accident the candidate could cause. >> it also means it will still be some time before